Friday, October 17, 2014
Congresswoman against Contraception
I attended Susan Wood's Ath talk the other day, and during the question session she mentioned that there are Congresswomen who vote against contraception and women's health reforms. This reminded me of the Women's Anti-Suffragist League back in Anthony and Stanton's time and made me curious as to who these Congresswomen were. I came across articles on Nan Hayworth, a Republican Congresswoman, who ran as a pro-choice candidate in 2010 but later changed her opinions, voting for legislations that limited women's access to contraception/abortion and restricted funding for Planned Parenthood. Even though she supports women's rights, she doesn't think the government should be the one providing this kind of health care. I don't see how you can believe in one without the other. She seems to be afraid that she will lose women's votes if she doesn't say she "supports" their rights, but the legislations she votes and advocates for tell me that she is actually in opposition to them. Even then, I find it quite interesting that there is such a substantial social stigma against women who oppose women's rights that we barely see organized movements equivalent to the Women's Anti-Suffragist League.
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I think that some women don't view access to contraception/abortion as a woman's right, but you're absolutely right that women politicians can't say that they are against access to this entirely, because the dialogue surrounding it has been so firmly grounded in a language of rights.
ReplyDeleteHere's a link to a group called Feminists for Life. It's interesting that they don't see themselves as being anti-feminist for not being pro-choice. In fact, they take the opposite stance.
http://www.feministsforlife.org/